Life After Pastry

So, my last day of work was May 25th. It was bittersweet, I must say. I really miss my coworkers, being a part of our world-class pastry team, licking chocolate off my fingers all day long, having access to high-end ingredients at industry insider prices, etc. etc. However I really do enjoy not being on the receiving end of calls like these:

"Hi, Randi? This is so-and-so from Catering. Yeah. We have a party tonight for 100 people that we forgot to tell you about. Can we get 20 coconut cream pies in about an hour?"

Ahh, memories.

As sad as I am to leave my friends at work, they seem to be taking it especially hard as evidenced by the look on poor Marisa's face here:



I think Chicago, the pioneers of the horn-saturated rock ballad, said it best: [I'm] a hard habit to break.

Anyway, things are pretty good around these parts. My dad is in the process of selling our house to my sister Leslie. Years ago, my father converted his work shop in our back yard into a two bedroom apartment. Leslie and her family live there now, but once this deal goes through we will be swapping residences. We don't need that much space, and my sister's family needs a lot more...it just made sense. Plus, it gives us a nice chunk of change to go spend at senior citizen buffets around town. Can anyone say "rice pudding?"

Let's see, what else have we been up to...

We went to the Pet Expo show at the fairgrounds a few weeks ago, where we met Smokey the Marauding Therapy Llama:



And some miniature ponies:



Did you know that only dogs and miniature ponies can be service animals? Everything else is a "therapy animal," as in "Smokey the Marauding Therapy Llama." I wish we saw more service ponies around. That would be awesome.

Another highlight from this summer would have to be the BRITNEY SPEARS CONCERT, YO!!! I originally wasn't going to go, but then God struck down my friend CNash with a nasty illness, so I got her ticket! Isn't it funny how things work out sometimes?

The concert was fabulous, but my friends Heidi and Carrie (who both have 4 Britney concerts under their belts) tell me that she used to dance a lot more in her earlier concerts. Now she just kind of walks around onstage in sparkly outfits, pausing every now and then to gyrate.

Here are some shots from the concert. I know you're curious.




Aside from all the gyrating, probably one of the best parts of going to a Britney concert is the great people watching that one can do while there. Everybody is either sporting some outfit from a Britney video, or they are totally skanked up. I tried to capture some of the good ones, but it's hard to take pictures on the low.







Man, I'm really disappointed in that sampling of concert-goer photos. You can't get a good feel for the trashiness of it all. Trust me, it was impressive.

I also joined a Stampin' Up club this summer. You know. 'Cuz I love to get my craft on. I'll post pictures once I've got something worth posting.

Aaaaaaaaand that about does it! Peace out!